Obama fundraiser for Democrats shifts to Peninsula

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images

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WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 19: U.S. President Barack Obama reacts as he speaks prior to signing the Executive Order on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics during an East Room event at the White House October 19, 2010 in Washington, DC. The executive order placed a high priority on issues ranging from early childhood learning to higher education for the Hispanic community. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX *** less

WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 19: U.S. President Barack Obama reacts as he speaks prior to signing the Executive Order on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics during an East Room event at ... more

No sooner did we tell you about President Obama's planned visit to San Francisco on Thursday - and the jam-up it might have caused with traffic from the Giants' playoff game - than the fundraiser was moved down to the Peninsula.

Now, Obama will attend the $30,000-a-head fundraiser for 50 high-roller Democrats at the Palo Alto home of Google executive Marissa Mayerrather than at her apartment at the Four Seasons Hotel on Market Street. The president will also host a Democratic National Committee reception at former state Controller Steve Westly's house in Atherton.

And while Obama doesn't make a habit of raising money for down-ballot candidates in state races, we're told he has agreed to host a $6,500-a-person photo op for Democratic attorney general candidate Kamala Harris, one of his earliest and hardest-working supporters during his presidential campaign.

Follow the money: Every San Francisco election has a bit of three-card monte to it, and one of the more obvious this season involves Chinatown's Rose Pak, former Mayor Willie Brown and a $5,000 donation in support of District 6 supervisorial candidate Jane Kim.

The play works like this: Pak, a longtime personal and political friend of Brown's, asks the former mayor for a $5,000 contribution to support an independent campaign for her candidate Kim. Pak takes that and other money and hands it over to the independent committee, called New Day for SF.

New Day then sends out a mailer to renters touting Kim as "the people's candidate."

The rub: Under election rules, independent committees are supposed to be just that - they're not allowed to be in contact with a candidate's campaign.

David Ho, a political pal of Pak's, is listed in campaign documents as working for both Kim's campaign and New Day.

Pak said Tuesday that she was unaware of any improper handling of the "independent" money.

As for Kim: "I was as surprised as anybody," she said of the contribution. "I didn't ask for it."

Kim's campaign manager, Enrique Pearce, who runs Left Coast Communications, insisted Tuesday that it was all much ado about nothing. As soon as it became clear that New Day intended to raise money for Kim, Pearce said, his firm contacted the San Francisco Ethics Commission for advice.

"The advice was it's a gray area, and whatever you do, be careful," Pearce said.

At that point, he said, Robinson - who he said had worked only as a summer intern for him - severed his ties with Left Coast Communications. And he says there has been no ongoing relationship between Left Coast and New Day.

Before Newsom arrived, the incumbent and an adviser - who just happened to be in the neighborhood - took a rear table at the Cafe de Camacho on Olvera Street in downtown L.A. and ordered a cup of coffee, setting the stage for one of the most unusual bits of political theater of this season.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, opening the event for Newsom, offered up a hearty "welcome (to) the lieutenant governor" - before correcting himself and saying, "the next lieutenant governor of the great state of California."

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